Penn State School of Theatre’s Susan H. Schulman Elected President of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

Susan H. Schulman has been elected to serve as Executive Board President of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), the national labor union representing professional stage directors and choreographers. The results of SDC’s recent Executive Board elections were announced November 18 at their Annual Membership Meeting.

Schulman is a graduate of the Yale Drama School, Hofstra University, and New York’s famed High School of Performing Arts. She heads the M.F.A Directing Program at Penn State.

“For over 20 years SDC has been there to support and to inspire me. It is my privilege to serve as President in this tradition of community while continuing to empower and protect professional stage directors and choreographers," said Schulman.

A Tony-nominated director, Ms. Schulman was first elected to the SDC Board in 1990 serving as Executive Vice President from 1992-1996. During her tenure she co-chaired Broadway negotiations multiple times and chairs the Union’s Committee on International Artists.

Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden as well as its highly successful national tour (Drama Desk nomination), the revival of Sweeney Todd at the Circle in the Square (Tony Award nomination), the revival of The Sound of Music (Tony nomination Outstanding Revival) and Little Women, the musical and its recent national tour. For her direction of the highly-acclaimed Violet (which received The New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical), Schulman was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Director. She received an Obie Award for directing Sondheim and Furth’s musical Merrily We Roll Along at the York Theatre. Her work can be seen regularly at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada. She just returned from Denmark where she directed a new musical composed by John Bucchino and is currently working on Stardust Road, the Music of Hoagy B. Carmichael, which she conceived and is directing.